Panathinaikos 1-0 Betis: A 2-red drama as Taborda helps the Greek side lead

A rather intense game packed with physical combats and tacklings. A red card for both teams, Taborda's 80th minute penalty laid the winning foundation for the away team.

Match Report:

Vicente Taborda’s 87th-minute penalty helped 10-man Panathinaikos snatch a 1-0 win over Real Betis in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League (UEL) Round of 16 tie.

A tentative start from both sides saw little in the way of goalmouth action, with Cucho Hernández’s header, which was brilliantly saved by Alban Lafont, the closest either team came to opening the scoring in the early stages.

Betis soon took control and forced several corners, and it would be 15 minutes before Panathinaikos had a sight of goal, but Georgios Kyriakopoulos screwed his effort horribly wide.

As the half progressed, the visitors continued to dictate the tempo and pattern of the game, holding over 70% possession to leave their Greek hosts chasing shadows for long periods.

Lafont had to get down swiftly to keep Hernández’s low shot out just after the 30-minute mark, but despite having the lion’s share of the ball right up until half time and stopping Panathinaikos getting a shot on target, Betis were unable to make their dominance count.

Facundo Pellistri was a little more lively at the beginning of the second half, and Andrews Tetteh had a reasonable shout for a penalty turned down as the hosts looked to take the game to their LaLiga opponents.

That sparked Betis back into life, and Hernández was a whisker away from opening the scoring.

As the hour mark approached, Anass Zaroury was handed his second yellow card in 10 minutes when he hauled back Abde Ezzalzouli, reducing Panathinaikos to 10 men for the final half-hour.

To their credit, Rafa Benítez’s side continued to try and take the game to Betis, but with 15’ to play, they still hadn’t managed a shot on target despite their industry.

By contrast, Antony’s long-range effort, which brought the best out of Lafont, was the visitors’ fifth.

However, just a minute after coming on, Karol Świderski was hauled over by Diego Llorente, and after a VAR review, a penalty was awarded and the Spaniard sent off.

Taborda stepped up to fire home the winner with the hosts' first effort on target, and the result means that the Greek giants preserve their great recent home record, which has seen them lose just one of their last 13 matches at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium (W7, D5), keeping six clean sheets in that time. 

Match Events

1' Match Event for Panathinaikos vs Betis

12' Match Event for Panathinaikos vs Betis

30' Match Event for Panathinaikos vs Betis

32' Match Event for Panathinaikos vs Betis

45' Match Event for Panathinaikos vs Betis

59' Red Card! Sent Off

83' Penalty Goal! Panathinaikos 1-0 Betis

87' Red Card! Sent Off

Line-ups

Panathinaikos XI: S. Ingason, Calabria, R.Sanches, G. Kyriakopoulos, Alban Lafont, Anass Zaroury, Adam Gnezda Cerin, Facundo Pellistri, Vicente Taborda, Georgios Katris, Andreas Tetteh

Subs: Djuricic, Manolis Siopis, Konstantinos Kotsaris, Pedro Chirivella, Karol Świderski, Pantovic, Angelos Vyntra, Santino Andino, Christos Gitonas

Betis XI: Rodriguez, D.Llorente, P. Lopez, Roca, Ruibal, Cucho Hernández, Fornals, Antony, Abde Ezzalzouli, Natan, Sergi Altimira

Subs: Adrian, Bartra, Bakambu, Chimy Ávila, Bellerin, Álvaro Fidalgo, Álvaro Valles, Firpo, Riquelme, Nelson Deossa, Valentín Gómez, Pablo García